The fool's castle

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The Narrenburg is a story by Adalbert Stifter . It was first printed in 1842 in “Iris. Paperback for the year 1843 ”in the so-called journal version. In 1844, the so-called book version, which was slightly revised by Stifter , was published by Gustav Heckenast in Pest as part of the narrative cycle “Studies”. The Narrenburg is one of the early works of Stifter.

According to Stifter's plans, the story should originally only form the first part of a larger series of thematically related stories. In fact, there are only two other works by Stifter that tie in with the story of the Narrenburg, namely the third version of " From my great-grandfather's portfolio " published in 1847 and the story " Prokopus " from 1848.

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The focus of the story is the Counts of the Scharnast family and their family seat - Rothenstein Castle , which has fallen into ruins and is popularly known as "the Narrenburg". After the death of the last representative of the main line of the Scharnasts, Christoph , the Rothenstein is orphaned. In the course of the story it turns out that the naturalist Heinrich , who actually only visits the area to conduct natural history studies there, is the legitimate heir of the Rothenstein. Before Heinrich took over his inheritance, he married the middle-class daughter of an innkeeper, Anna . Both move to the rebuilt Rothenstein and start a family, so that the family tradition of the Scharnasts, which was believed to be extinct, can be continued.

Woven into this plot is an internal narrative in which the reader learns how the ruin of the Rothenstein came about: It begins with Christoph's grandfather Julianus , who cheats his brother out of his inheritance and wastes a large part of the family fortune. His son, Jodok , continues his father's destructive work. He begins the physical devastation of the castle by burning down buildings after a failed marriage and the suicide of his brother and leaving the castle grounds to live in a small house at the foot of the castle hill. Jodok's son, Christoph, completes the decline. He has the Rothenstein walled up and joins pagan troops who are fighting against Christianity . He is shot in the war , which temporarily ends the family tradition on the Rothenstein.

interpretation

The Narrenburg is primarily interpreted as a plea by the founder for the value of the family . It is the vocation of people to lead a good, responsible marriage , to have children and to protect their families. If he does, he not only preserves the family tradition, but also the entire historical tradition. If he treats his family irresponsibly, as the foolish Scharnasts did, this leads not only to damage to the family, but to much more extensive damage to the historical-cultural tradition of humanity. Both damage are symbolized by Rothenstein Castle, which has temporarily fallen into ruins . This damage caused by a foolish departure from the family can be remedied, but through the good, happy and child-rich marriage of Heinrich with the bourgeois Anna. Through this rescue of the Scharnasts with the help of a marriage far below the standard, Die Narrenburg can also be interpreted politically. Obviously, the nobility alone is no longer able to preserve the family and the historical-cultural tradition of mankind, but needs to be refreshed by marrying in commoners.

Web links

literature

  • Bertram, Ernst: Studies on Adalbert Stifter's novel technique, Gerstenberg Verlag, Hildesheim 1978.
  • Böcher, Otto: Majorat and Narrenburg. A genealogical attempt on ETA Hoffmann and Adalbert Stifter, in: Association for Heraldry, Genealogy and Related Sciences in Berlin (Ed.): Der Herold. Quarterly journal for heraldry, genealogy and related sciences, Volume 12, 30th year 1987, Issue 1, January - March, self-published, Berlin 1987, p. 7 to p. 12.
  • Enklaar-Lagendijk, Jannetje: Adalbert Stifter. Landscape and Space, Repro-Holland BV, Alphen aan den Rijn 1984.
  • Irmscher, Hans Dietrich: Adalbert Stifter. Experience of reality and representational representation, Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Munich 1971.
  • Märki, Peter: Adalbert Stifter. Folly and narrative structure, Verlag Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1979.
  • Matz, Wolfgang: Adalbert Stifter or This terrible turn of things. Biography, Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich and Vienna 1995.
  • Schröder, Hans: The room as the poet's imagination in Stifter, Verlag Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1985.
  • Weigel, Sigrid: On the dialectic of gender and generation around 1800. Stifter's Narrenburg as the scene of upheavals in genealogical thinking, in: Weigel, Sigrid / Parenes, Ohad / Vedder, Ulrike / Willer, Stefan (eds.): Generation. On the genealogy of the concept - concepts of genealogy, Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Munich 2005, p. 109 - p. 124.